AllMovie

Actress turned filmmaker Li Lin was staying in Southern China while trying to obtain permission to make a film in Tibet when she made the acquaintance of a group of children who spent their time at a local fast food restaurant. The kids were a gang of homeless runaways, some as young as 11, who had fallen into heroin addiction to blot out the misery of their daily lives. Three-Five People is a documentary Lin made about these tragic youngsters, which shows how they survive through petty crime, documents the ferocity of their drug habits, and records the sad story of what followed after Lin attempted to help them detox from drugs and come to the United States. Three-Five People was shown in competition at the 2001 Vienna Film Festival.